Valve have uncapped the Proto-Pass, allowing players to level it up all the way now and earn even more rewards for playing the game. That, plus more smaller bits in the latest update.

Alchemist, Bloodseeker, Crystal Maiden, Sand King and Tusk now actually have some visual upgrades when you get them to a 2 and 3 star. There's some animation improvements, a framerate option on mobile, melee units will target barricades if there's no better target and Assassin targeting and Blink Daggers are now a bit more random between left and right when selecting the target.

Valve is facing a bit of a problem here though, as Underlords continues losing players. Starting off at a peak of over 200K, it's now dropped down below 40K. Obviously, games get a lot of interest (especially when free) at the start so a drop off was expected. However even when just looking at it over the past month, the drop is still quite large from around 68K on August 6th.

It is starting to find its feet now and the number of players dropping seems to have slowed. It certainly will be interesting to see how Underlords continues to evolve during Early Access. They've made a number of pretty big changes to it in such a short amount of time, it's quite hard to keep track of it for competitive play. Really great game to sit back with a coffee with, even if I am losing practically all the time.

I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. See more from me

I wouldn't be worried. At least not too much. IIRC, CS:GO struggled quite a bit in the beginning and eventually become a big hit.
Also my guess is that the possibility to play as a team with a friend will be a total game changer if done right.

eldakingThe game is still in beta, it is a bit too early to look at player numbers and judge its success.

Hardly. The difference between alpha, beta, Early Access and so on in reality is nothing more than a name in the age of all games turning into practically an ever changing live service. Games have flopped hard after the "release" (just look at Artifact...), so have a great many others.

eldakingThe game is still in beta, it is a bit too early to look at player numbers and judge its success.

Hardly. The difference between alpha, beta, Early Access and so on in reality is nothing more than a name in the age of all games turning into practically an ever changing live service. Games have flopped hard after the "release" (just look at Artifact...), so have a great many others.

It does matter for a lot of people. If the developer says "the game is unfinished", people will take that into consideration. Some people will choose to wait, some people will be more forgiving of of the issues because it wasn't advertised as "good enough" yet. And I can't imagine that the way they market the game won't change once they have an official release and monetization...

It might indeed flop hard after release - the upcoming changes might not be for the better, or not match expectations. Or it might be a huge success, or have another huge peak and then stabilize, or just not change at all. I just don't think the current trend is a good indication of the future of the game, since we know for a fact there is going to be a big change in the near future.

@eldaking: I get your point but it's quite rare for games to manage to actually pull people back in once they bounce off it and move on, that is true for Early Access as much as it is for Released games.

As for people taking unfinished games into "consideration", the reality is very different. People leave negative reviews all the time due to issues in unfinished games.

I should note, I hope I am wrong and that the current trend has a nice turn around. The problem is, I do have my doubts even if I greatly enjoy the gameplay. I've been trying to think on ways Valve could make players stick around more but no matter what they do, the basic gameplay will obviously stay the same and I think that's why a lot have left, since it's a very different type of strategy game.

ConfuciusI think the user count is getting low because they keep changing the meta and that annoys everyone. Everytime i think i got a hang of the game, it changes. I'm playing less and less.

Of course, it's still in beta and that's expected but you can't help but feel annoyed about all the changes. The game itself is a lot of fun though.

Edit:Grammar and kb issues

I don't know if everyone feels that way. For many people, shaking up the metagame keeps the game from stagnating - they have to keep the novelty going. Like how MMOs have to release more and more content, or many games have seasonal events, or new expansions...

I am somewhere in the middle, I feel a bit intimidated by those changes (I play less for a while after patches) but so far I love the changes.

Liam Dawe@eldaking: I get your point but it's quite rare for games to manage to actually pull people back in once they bounce off it and move on, that is true for Early Access as much as it is for Released games.

As for people taking unfinished games into "consideration", the reality is very different. People leave negative reviews all the time due to issues in unfinished games.

I should note, I hope I am wrong and that the current trend has a nice turn around. The problem is, I do have my doubts even if I greatly enjoy the gameplay. I've been trying to think on ways Valve could make players stick around more but no matter what they do, the basic gameplay will obviously stay the same and I think that's why a lot have left, since it's a very different type of strategy game.

That's true, I'm not sure if "recovering" the lost players is viable. But I expect there is quite a new crowd to draw in, if they put more effort into marketing the game (whether it will remains to be seen)... and I am actually more surprised that this many players were willing to join in the first place. The 200k peak was definitely an anomaly in my mind.

And, well, we all know of the reviews with "10000 hours played, do not recommend". I choose to believe that there are still enough sane people around, people that will be somewhat forgiving of issues in a game tagged as beta...

ConfuciusI think the user count is getting low because they keep changing the meta and that annoys everyone. Everytime i think i got a hang of the game, it changes. I'm playing less and less.

Of course, it's still in beta and that's expected but you can't help but feel annoyed about all the changes. The game itself is a lot of fun though.

Edit:Grammar and kb issues

I don't know if everyone feels that way. For many people, shaking up the metagame keeps the game from stagnating - they have to keep the novelty going. Like how MMOs have to release more and more content, or many games have seasonal events, or new expansions...

I am somewhere in the middle, I feel a bit intimidated by those changes (I play less for a while after patches) but so far I love the changes.

Liam Dawe@eldaking: I get your point but it's quite rare for games to manage to actually pull people back in once they bounce off it and move on, that is true for Early Access as much as it is for Released games.

As for people taking unfinished games into "consideration", the reality is very different. People leave negative reviews all the time due to issues in unfinished games.

I should note, I hope I am wrong and that the current trend has a nice turn around. The problem is, I do have my doubts even if I greatly enjoy the gameplay. I've been trying to think on ways Valve could make players stick around more but no matter what they do, the basic gameplay will obviously stay the same and I think that's why a lot have left, since it's a very different type of strategy game.

That's true, I'm not sure if "recovering" the lost players is viable. But I expect there is quite a new crowd to draw in, if they put more effort into marketing the game (whether it will remains to be seen)... and I am actually more surprised that this many players were willing to join in the first place. The 200k peak was definitely an anomaly in my mind.

And, well, we all know of the reviews with "10000 hours played, do not recommend". I choose to believe that there are still enough sane people around, people that will be somewhat forgiving of issues in a game tagged as beta...

I like the changes too, most of the time. It's just that it changes a lot and you can easily find yourself losing because the way that you played a few days ago isn't good enough or even optimal anymore, but instead sub-optimal which can mean the difference between the 4th and 5th place.

While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on Patreon, Liberapay or Paypal. We have no adverts, no paywalls, no timed exclusive articles. Just good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!